The parole system in Massachusetts is broken, and in dire need of reform. Please act now by asking your legislators to cosponsor two important pieces of legislation that would bring much needed change to Massachusetts:

• An Act to promote equitable access to parole fact sheet here (SD 1065/HD 2124, sponsored by Senator Creem, Representatives Vargas and Miranda) will improve the efficiency and balance of the parole board, account for the rights and needs of persons with certain disabilities, improve transparency, and reduce the amount of time prisoners must wait between parole reviews. It will require prisoners to be granted parole at their parole eligibility date unless the parole board determines that the prisoner would violate the law if released under appropriate conditions and community supervision. 

• An Act to Reform Parole Supervision in the Interest of Justice (SD 2212/HD 3620, sponsored by Sen. Jehlen and Rep. Miranda) imposes specific requirements the parole board must follow when issuing conditions of parole to ensure that such conditions will be reasonably related to the crime of conviction of the person placed on parole and no more restrictive than necessary. It also ensures that a person’s parole cannot be revoked if they violate a condition of parole that does not result in a criminal conviction and establishes a process by which people serving lifetime parole sentences may petition the board after three years without violating the law for a hearing to terminate their parole. 

Sample email/script:
Dear Legislator,I am writing to ask that you cosponsor An Act to promote equitable access to parole (SD 1065/HD 2124, fact sheet here, sponsored by Senator Creem, Representatives Vargas and Miranda) and An Act to Reform Parole Supervision in the Interest of Justice (SD 2212/HD 3620, sponsored by Sen. Jehlen and Rep. Miranda).  As this recent Globe editorial illustrates, the current parole system is in dire need of reform.

These bills support reasonable parole reform that will be in the interest of public safety. Right now, the parole system is so broken that it keeps a lot of people incarcerated who could otherwise live free without violating the law. This has serious negative effects on community safety and racial justice, given the existing extreme racial disparities in incarceration in the Commonwealth. Incarcerating people who could live safely in the community concentrates the Commonwealth’s resources on imprisonment and punishment at the expense of healthy community support, even though we know that imprisonment does not address the underlying causes of violence and harm. Creating a more effective parole system would enable the Commonwealth to direct resources to systems of care such as education, health care and job creation, as well as help develop a social safety net to prevent harm.

A well functioning parole system would work to support people upon release, rather than work as a new form of punishment and surveillance. Unfortunately, right now, the parole system often sets people up to fail by imposing draconian conditions and re-incarcerating people for technical (non-criminal) violations, particularly people who may violate because they have had substance use disorder relapses, or because our systems have failed to provide the appropriate support. There are provisions in these bills which ensure that people are not immediately re-incarcerated for technical violations, and that parole must take steps to support people prior to re-incarceration.

Public safety is not served by having a system that is widely understood to be stacked against people who are up for parole. This leads to a lack of hope, and hope is crucial to create conditions for transformation and rehabilitation.

Thank you for your consideration and support.
Sincerely,

[Your name and contact information]

FOR MORE INFO ON OUR BROKEN PAROLE SYSTEM, READ MY ARTICLES at DIGBoston such as: https://digboston.com/the-dysfunctional-mass-parole-boards-inevitable-coronavirus-crisis